The Tigers and the Strawberry
The Buddha
told this story:
A
man was walking across a field
when
he saw a tiger.
He
fled, but the tiger ran after him.
Coming
to the edge of a cliff,
he
spied the root of a wild vine.
Grabbing
onto it, he swung himself
down
over the edge,
out
of reach of the tiger.
He
was safe!
The
tiger came to the edge
and
sniffed him from above.
Trembling,
the man looked down
and
saw another ferocious tiger
prowling
below.
Only
the thin vine held him.
Two
mice, one white and one black,
scurried
out of a nearby nest in the cliff
and
began gnawing at the vine.
As
they chewed, the man saw
a
luscious strawberry
on
a nearby ledge.
Grasping
the vine with one hand,
he
plucked the strawberry with the other.
Ahh,
how sweet it tasted!

next zenwave
story
as told in One Hand Clapping, pub.by Rizzoli, NY
back to ~sandwaves~